The Importance of Responsive Web Design

The Importance of Responsive Web Design

Responsive web design is something that has grown from the latest trend to something consumers expect to find whenever they visit a website. Although 70% of consumers continue to use their desktops to access the Internet, this doesn’t mean they don’t also use tablets and smartphones to browse.

Every website in 2020 should be designed in a responsive manner because it means pages will automatically orientate themselves based on the size of the device accessing them.

Any good web designer and any business with an online presence must invest in responsive design when they create a website.

More Mobile Traffic

Mobile traffic is not the future it’s the present. Businesses are missing out on thousands of potential customers when they fail to invest in responsive web design. Approximately 61% of users will not return to a website they had trouble accessing on mobile.

This reason alone should be enough to convince entrepreneurs to ensure their website is responsive. It’s a matter of numbers. With record low average conversion rates, consumers have shown they will not continue with a website that’s difficult to use.

Responsive web design will go a long way to cutting this lost traffic down.

Faster Loading Times

Websites that have not been designed with mobile in mind will take longer to load. Slow loading times can be the death of a business trying to score online conversions.

Research has revealed that 53% of mobile users will abandon a website that fails to load after three seconds. With so much global competition online, businesses cannot rely on consumers ‘giving them a chance’.

The entire user experience must be seamless and as close to instant as possible, which is what responsive web design offers.

Lower Bounce Rates

The bounce rate is a statistic calculated from the number of users who land on a website and leave within a few seconds. A high bounce rate represents a serious problem because Google will actively penalize websites in their search rankings if users tend to leave within seconds of visiting a business.

Higher bounce rates show that users are not enjoying the experience provided by a website. Responsive web design can go a long way to preventing this through faster loading times, better navigation, and a well-orientated layout.

In 2020, a business with high bounce rates is doomed to fail in the online arena.

Improve Your Analytics

Did you know 70% of small businesses in the U.S. now sell products and services online? This means competition and it means businesses need to get better at marketing. Online analytics give entrepreneurs vital information on what they need to do to improve their conversion rates.

Responsive web design opens up a brand-new analytical channel. Without it, entrepreneurs are unaware of where traffic is coming from and how users are interacting with the website. Operating a separate mobile website complicates the process and makes it harder to get accurate information.

Tools like Google Analytics have improved to such an extent that entrepreneurs now have access to condensed information about their users and their behaviors. These tools are now designed to cater to responsive websites and business owners who want to compare user behavior based on the device they are accessing it from.

Supercharge Your SEO with Responsive Design

The consequences of not implementing responsive web design are clear. Higher bounce rates and, overall, lower conversion rates are a natural result of not implementing responsive web design.

Google has also penalized websites for years over a lack of responsive web design. Furthermore, businesses are penalized again if they have high bounce rates, which is a consequence of not implementing responsive design, so businesses are hit by Google twice.

It’s impossible to run a successful SEO campaign if your website is not optimized for use on mobile devices and tablets. Companies that have created separate mobile websites are splitting their SEO and weakening both their desktop and mobile presences.

Improve the Offline Browsing Experience

The majority of modern smartphones and tablets are HTML5 enabled. What this means is that when a user accesses a website within an HTML5 web application without an Internet connection, it’s easy for them to continue viewing the content. This is especially useful for users who don’t want to burn through their mobile data.

It may seem like a relatively small improvement through responsive web design, but businesses need to do everything they can to cater to the needs of their target market.

Conclusion

Responsive web design is something most businesses have adopted over the last few years. Organizations which fail to incorporate responsive web design into a centralized website are being penalized in their marketing and customer retention endeavors.

Luckily, it doesn’t require a complete redesign of your website to implement responsive web design. Get in touch with a professional web designer and talk to them about how you can deliver a responsive customer-facing web presence.